Monday, August 06, 2007

Noxious Escapes

Following BOM's WORLD EXCLUSIVE at 7.27am on Saturday, it's now virtually confirmed that the foot and mouth virus escaped from the government's own Plague Lab at Pirbright.

Naturally, the Commissars are still spinning furiously that it's all the fault of those yanks next door, but as already reported, the Pirbright lab has been subject to corner cutting economies for many years. What's more the yanks are supposed to be properly regulated. The Commissars are in it up to their necks.

Costs? Well, the EU live animal export ban will reportedly cost us £15m per week, and losses will rocket if the ban is extended to food exports. And then there's the cost of compensating farmers, and all the other knock-ons like tourism (although frankly, despite what our local MP claims, I never see that many tourists in downtown Woking). Plus of course, the compensation we locals will be claiming on account of being traumatised by squadrons of news choppers hovering overhead- the Major's started to get his Nam flashbacks again.

But foot and mouth isn't the only noxious escapee from government custody. A mass break-out over the weekend from the Campsfield House Immigration Detention Centre in Oxfordshire has left 14 convicted and dangerous foreign criminals on the loose.

This is by no means the first such escapes from Home Office establishments of course. As we blogged here, prison escapes are now so frequent that the head of the Prison Service doesn't even bother to keep a tally of them. Indeed, these days, the Service likes to refer to them not as as escapes at all, but as "unapproved absences" (see blog).

Moral: if you want to lock away something nasty, never ever ask the government to do it. You'll be much safer with the Big Yellow Storage Company.

BOM the book now available

Drawing on six years of blogging government waste, this book shows how we spend far more than we need on our public services. It sets out the facts and explores the underlying issues. Just why does government spend so much and deliver such second rate service? Why do we put up with it? And what are the alternatives?

ABOUT BOM

Despite all the talk of cuts, government still consumes nearly half our national income. Yet many tens of billions of its spending is wasted, with taxpayers made to pick up the tab for a depressing array of overpriced sub-standard services. This is money we can no longer afford, and our National Debt is already at danger level.

If we're to avoid further decades of stagnation and austerity we urgently need to find another way. Exposing and understanding the wastefulness of government is a necessary step in the right direction.